AIM

Alex found traces of Strucker in one leader’s memories. They had come here on Strucker’s orders to investigate this primeval forest and locate the mutants hiding within it.

"How did Strucker know we were here?" After casually dealing with all those people, Alex crouched on the beach and pondered carefully.

Hydra had previously incited the Descendants of Atlantis to start a war. Later, under Emma’s planning, the war had quickly ended, and they had set up a deception in hopes of concealing news of the Floating Temple. So much time had passed without any movement from the Descendants of Atlantis, and Alex had thought Hydra had given up. He had never expected Strucker’s attention to be drawn here again.

After thinking it over without coming up with anything, Alex turned and glanced at the large ship docked by the shore. Erik’s power took effect, and the steel vessel slowly warped until it became a massive sphere. Alex then threw it into the sea, burying both the humans and the Descendants of Atlantis beneath the waves.

After handling everything, Alex returned to the students. Their battle had already ended. More than twenty Ape-men had been beaten to the ground by the students and fled in panic. The moment Alex appeared, the students eagerly crowded around him, impatient to show off their achievements.

"Students, due to an unexpected incident, this practical training ends here." Alex was still thinking about Hydra. He had decided to visit the territory of the Descendants of Atlantis, where, according to the agents’ memories, Hydra had a base.

Instead of receiving Alex’s praise, the dozen or so students heard those words, and their faces immediately fell. Some of the quicker thinkers immediately realized something. "Teacher, is it because of that gunshot?" Most of these children had lived through humanity’s purge of mutants, so gunfire was not unfamiliar to them.

Alex did not hide it. He nodded and said, "It’s urgent, and I have to deal with it. Next time, I’ll bring you out for practical training again."

After sending the students back to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Alex immediately went to find Emma and told her what had happened and what he intended to do.

When Emma first heard the news, she jumped up in fright. She had long regarded this primeval forest in the Savage Land as her own backyard. Now, hearing that someone had slipped into her backyard while she knew nothing about it was terrifying enough. If Hydra followed the trail all the way here, things would truly get out of hand.

"Fine. Go there, and make sure you find out everything!" Emma quickly regained her composure and said sternly, "Don’t worry about things here. I’ll strengthen our defenses. I was negligent regarding the primeval forest." Emma had never relaxed her vigilance over their security. There was no need to mention the defenses of the Floating Island; people had also been stationed to monitor the areas near the plains. Yet the primeval forest, with its savages and dinosaurs, had caused Emma to overlook its defenses.

"Don’t be too nervous. Wait for my good news!" With those words, Alex vanished in an instant.

Alex rarely set foot on the plains occupied by the Descendants of Atlantis, and he had strictly forbidden any mutant from trespassing there. First, the mutants had only just begun to settle down and needed time to recover and grow. Second, with the Floating Island and a vast primeval forest, Alex was already satisfied and did not wish to provoke further trouble.

But now, it seemed that someone did not want mutants to live in peace.

Using Teleportation, Alex arrived at the city where they had once caught up with the army of the Descendants of Atlantis. He did not stay long. His original purpose in entering the city had been to find a photograph of the Descendants of Atlantis’ capital. Unfortunately, after searching many places, he found nothing at all. It seemed the Descendants of Atlantis did not possess photography technology. Left with no choice, he stole a map and continued toward their capital.

Without a concrete image to use as a reference, Alex could only rely on his eyes, teleporting bit by bit toward the capital of the Descendants of Atlantis. After spending nearly half a day like this, he finally saw a prosperous city.

Poseidonia was the name of the Descendants of Atlantis’ capital. It was also the name of Atlantis, the capital of the sea kingdom. The Descendants of Atlantis used it to commemorate their great heritage.

Looking at Poseidonia so close before him, Alex thought of Dubai in the twenty-first century. The Poseidonia before him looked remarkably like the future Dubai—luxurious, prosperous, mysterious, and futuristic.

After admiring it for a moment, Alex followed the memories of the Hydra agents who had long since become fish food and made his way toward Hydra’s base.

It took Alex more than another hour to find Hydra’s base, hidden beneath an artificial lake. He guessed the Descendants of Atlantis must not have had very good eyes or ears. Otherwise, how could Hydra have quietly built a base spanning several hundred square meters beneath this artificial lake without anyone noticing?

Without Invisible Woman’s invisibility or Mystique’s shapeshifting, Alex could only use his old method: teleporting at an extremely rapid frequency so that human eyes could not detect his appearances. Alex had used this method on the battlefields of World War II, but using Teleportation at such a frequency placed an enormous burden on the mind and made a person tire easily.

Yet when he used it this time, Alex felt remarkably relaxed. That was all thanks to his new meditation method and his constantly transforming, evolving Psionic Power.

Flickering through the underground base like a ghost, Alex finally found his target. Many people fell silent in fear at the sight of this man. Clearly, he was the leader of this underground base, or at least an extremely important figure.

Alex found an opportunity when the leader was alone and used telepathy to search for information. But to Alex’s disappointment, he found nothing. The leader seemed to have instantly become an idiot; his mind was utterly blank, with nothing inside.

Left with no choice, Alex abducted him and teleported directly into the primeval forest with him. Alex did not believe that the imposing man from the underground base was actually an idiot. Since telepathy had produced such a result, the man had clearly undergone anti-telepathy training.

Alex had previously heard Nick Fury say that many high-ranking figures in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra had undergone anti-telepathy training. Using telepathy to obtain information had already become extremely difficult.

Of course, this anti-telepathy training could not truly block telepathy. It merely caused the brain to react with a false response when subjected to telepathy, hiding the person’s true mind—just like the leader Alex had captured. If telepathy reached a certain level, however, this defense had little effect.

After knocking the man unconscious and tossing him onto the beach, Alex instantly returned to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and brought Emma over. Alex had always neglected this kind of training, so his telepathic ability naturally could not compare to Emma’s.

After bringing Emma back to the beach, Alex pointed at the man lying on the ground. "Emma, he’s right here. Take a look!"

Alex had already given her a general explanation at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, so Emma did not ask any questions. She immediately used telepathy. Within moments, her expression became exceptionally ugly, and wisps of fury even rose in her eyes.

"What is it?"

"Did Strucker establish another organization called AIM?" Emma asked instead of answering.

Alex thought for a moment, then nodded and relayed what Nick Fury had told him. "This organization actually evolved from Hydra’s technology division. After Strucker was driven out of Hydra, he pulled out with a group of people who had long wanted to betray it."

"Strucker is preparing to establish AIM’s headquarters in the Savage Land." Emma’s expression twisted as she said through gritted teeth, "He even wants to seize the entire Savage Land!"

"What?!" Alex could not help crying out. He had long known that Strucker must have ulterior motives, but he had never expected his ambitions to be so enormous. Then he found it absurd. "Seize the Savage Land? Does he have the ability?"

"He does!"